'Boardwalk Empire' star Michael Pitt returning to TV on NBC's 'Hannibal' in 2014's season 2 as Mason Verger

NBC's terrifyingly brilliant series Hannibal is sure to add a lot of flavor to the 2014 television line up when it airs starting February 28, but a new casting announcement has made it even more exciting for fans. Michael Pitt, best known for his portrayal of Jimmy Darmody on HBO's Boardwalk Empire, joins the Hannibal cast as Mason Verger later in season two. Those familiar with the Hannibal Lecter movies from the past might remember this character, which was portrayed by Gary Oldman (though it was hard to tell) in the 2001 film of the same name as this TV series.

Inside TV reports:

The Mason Verger role will be introduced late in the upcoming second season, which finds FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) in prison, falsely convicted for Lecter's crimes, while the doctor advises the agency on cases. Gary Oldman previously played an older version of Mason Verger in the 2001 Hannibal film, which is based on Thomas Harris' Hannibal novel. NBC's Hannibal timeline precedes the events in the film and is also set before the events in Thomas' Red Dragon so this is Mason how we've never seen him before (a cast description for the role compared him to the way Andrew Scott played Moriarty on Sherlock). Recently, Hannibal also cast Verger's sister Margo, who is played by Katharine Isabelle (Being Human).

For those of you not familiar with the character, Mason Verger is "an unstable wealthy patient of Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) who begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game with the deadly serial killer." In the 2001 film, we see Oldman's version of the character living in immense pain after Lecter (the Anthony Hopkins version) made him eat his own skin off of his face. It's a gruesome tale.

So in season two, we'll most likely just see the beginnings of this relationship and Pitt is definitely a great choice for the role. What do you think?